Any Kindle Users?

[mamamia88]

Thinking of getting one soon like in the next month or so. Anyone have one? And what do you think? Would probably go wifi only since i'm always around wifi and I could always load it up before I go. All the free classic books are very appealing to me

[Arex Bawrin]

I got the Kindle 3 (wifi only) for Christmas and I am very pleased with the product. You want to make sure you download Calibre afterwards so you can upload and convert any type of ebook format to your kindle.

Also, there is a thread regarding this product a little ways down the page:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1366966

[obithius]

I've had one for a couple of months,love it. Agree with the advice to use calibre too. I especially like downloading the newspaper each morning,that's almost paid for the kindle alone!

[Jazzy_Jeff]

I have had my Kindle for 3 months now and I love it also. I also use Calibre. I have not spent much on books at all because of the free classics and all the free books we get daily. I would recommend signing up at ereaderiq.com and you will get emails daily with the newest free books.

[mamamia88]

alright guys you have convinced me. i have a big bill to pay at the beginning of February and will treat myself to one after that.

[sanderella]

Thanks for the info about Calibre. Useful. :KS

[aysiu]

All the free classic books are very appealing to me All those free classic books are also available for the Nook.

[Majorix]

I have had a Kindle DX (those with a larger screen) for almost a year, and couldn't ask for more. Haven't really had a major problem, even with PDFs.

[Jazzy_Jeff]

The good thing about the Kindle if you buy it directly from Amazon is that they give you 30 days to decide if you want to keep it or not. Their customer service can't be beat and neither can their warranty. If anything happens to your Kindle under its one year warranty you call Amazon and they will over night you a replacement and send you a return label for the defective unit. No extra cost to you.

[mamamia88]

how in the world do they make money if people decide they want to return book before 30 days? i mean i go through books i like in a day or 2. 1 final question, is 3g worth the extra $50? I would probably mostly use it around home at at college campus where both have wifi. If in need of a quick book when traveling which i don't do a lot the airport would probably have wifi as well. any real reason to spend $50 more on 3g?

[aysiu]

how in the world do they make money if people decide they want to return book before 30 days? i mean i go through books i like in a day or 2. 1 final question, is 3g worth the extra $50? I would probably mostly use it around home at at college campus where both have wifi. If in need of a quick book when traveling which i don't do a lot the airport would probably have wifi as well. any real reason to spend $50 more on 3g?
It's the Kindle itself, not the eBooks you buy for it.

[mamamia88]

ah that makes more sense

[Paqman]

is 3g worth the extra $50? I would probably mostly use it around home at at college campus where both have wifi.

I think you've answered your own question there.

[Jazzy_Jeff]

That depends on you. Do you have an extra fifty bucks to spend? Then you would have internet access where ever AT&T has service to check emails and things. I personally did not have the extra fifty bucks to spend and I use it mostly at home anyway.

[goofynewf]

I have had my Kindle for a month now. I LOVE it.
My husband bought me the 3G although we have wifi at home. He figured it would save me aggravation since our internet is acting weird recently. Is it worth $50 extra? It is nice and I like that I haven't had to deal with wifi if at home or at work.
This is for another thread, but does anyone know how you can use Kindle with Ubuntu?

[theraje]

Another thumbs-up from me for the Kindle. You'll be amazed.

It gives you everything a book can, with added convenience. You can hold the Kindle with one hand, all while easily turning pages. Try that with a paperback. It is awkward, to say the least. The Kindle has a nice weight, so that you can do this for a good while without your arm getting tired. It weighs about as much as a deck of standard playing cards... maybe even a little less.

If you want a little more substance to hang on to, you can always get one of their covers. They aren't cheap, but I have a lighted cover that gives you more of a "book" feel, and there's a convenient light on the corner (which draws its power from the Kindle itself) for reading in low-light situations.

I have had a few problems though. Depending on what you use it for, the battery life might not be up to your standards. For reading books with the wireless antenna turned off, it should last at least a week on a single charge (it will last a lot longer under light use). But if you make the mistake of downloading one of the games they have, and you get addicted to it ("Every Word", anyone?), you'll be charging the thing twice a day.

Another is that if you read something that relies on white space (such as programming code, etc.), the formatting isn't really all that great. With my technical books, I get a lot of well-formatted code on two side-by-side pages. The Kindle will, on the other hand, carry lines down in the middle of a statement, and generally doesn't show as much information. The content is all there, it's just not as convenient to read.

Finally, I did manage to mess the thing up. Just remember that if your Kindle starts to act funny, and turning it off and on doesn't help, you can do a "hard reset" that may help. You have to hold the power slide for 30 seconds (it's important that you hold it long enough, it takes a while), let go, and it will basically clear out the RAM (or whatever the Kindle uses) and reload the software. (All your books and data remain, but everything else is reset).

Overall, it's a perfect device when used for its original intention -- reading books.

[Paqman]

This is for another thread, but does anyone know how you can use Kindle with Ubuntu?

As others have mentioned, Calibre is awesome. It's in the repos.

[mamamia88]

how rugged is the thing? i was thinking of getting a sleave or something and carrying it in a book bag with college textbooks

[Paqman]

I've got a neoprene sleeve for mine, and I stuck on a screen protector. It's built to be light, not rugged. You can get all sorts of fancy cases for them, some of them are really nice.

[mamamia88]

cool thanks i'll just have to be careful i guess. saw some leather sleaves etc for them should protect em nicely hopefully

[camp10]

I haven't gotten one, but I do have the Kindle app on my phone. And I have installed the Kindle application on my Ubuntu laptop (with WINE).

I'll probably get an android tablet sometime this year, and will go with the ereader software that works best at the time.

[Jazzy_Jeff]

As others have mentioned, Calibre is awesome. It's in the repos.

I would recommend downloading from their site. It is an up to date version. Here (http://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux) is the link. Just copy and paste :).

[mamamia88]

didn't even have the will power to hold off. ordered the wifi only version with 1 day shipping. lucky i have amazon prime

[colinmccubbin]

I would recommend downloading from their site. It is an up to date version. Here (http://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux) is the link. Just copy and paste :).

I tried
sudo apt-get install calibre it installed calibre just fine..

[Jazzy_Jeff]

I tried
sudo apt-get install calibre it installed calibre just fine..

I know it installs fine just the last time I used it from the repositories it was not an up to date version.

[e_torano]

I was going to get a Kindle, but I instead just got an Internet tablet.

Does anybody know if Calibre will still work though? I have the kindle and aldiko apps on the tablet, so I think it should...

EDIT: Scratch that. I just installed Calibre (and Adobe Digital Editions via Wine - seems I still need it to get my books from the WHSmiths store...) and tried an import to the device. They were sent fine then I simply open Aldiko and told it to update the library. all 3 of my books are there :)

[mamamia88]

well after 2 days with the kindle i can say that i think it's a very good device. It's like reading a real book but much thinner and a built in dictionary and bookmarks. It will even read to you though the voice puts me off sometimes but it's nice to have for dry books you are just trying to get through. Can even listen to podcasts and music while reading but I don't operate that way need to have complete silence when reading. Need to get a shell for it to carry in my backpack with 2 textbooks or so. would you reccomend a second bag for it that goes over my shoulder or some kind of sleeve and putting it in with my other books?

[Arleas]

I was given a Kindle for Christmas and I totally recommend it!

I have the WiFi version as the battery life is slightly better.

Check out www.gutenberg.org for free book goodness!